lately I've been using Old Crow bourbon instead of vermouth. Fill the cocktail shaker with ice, add some amount of bourbon, shake, pour the (now watered down) bourbon down the sink, then add the gin(to the cocktail shaker, not the sink!). Shake, then pour into a glass.

anyhow, it's funny you should mention this, as I came here to post a gin-related recipe. Great minds think alike. You're just like me. One of us! One of us!

Also: for some strange reason which I shudder to fathom, some bartenders seem to like asking the most absurd question when I order a martini: "gin or vodka?" I invariably glare at them, and repeat my order.

I mean, I said "a martini" damn you; what the hell does vodka have to do with it???